**Haiti is marking a national day of mourning on Friday for the victims of the earthquake that devastated their country exactly one month ago.**About 230,000 people were killed in the 12 January quake, 300,000 were injured and one million made homeless.
Masses will be celebrated nationwide, and a ceremony held in the ruins of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince.
And at 1653 local time (2153 GMT), Haitians at home and abroad will be asked to kneel and pray.
Television screens
The day of mourning will first be marked by masses celebrated in churches in the capital Port-au-Prince and nationwide.
The main ceremony will be in the capital’s centre, amid the ruins of the National Palace.
The government plans to set up large screens at some of the tented relief camps to allow people to follow the ceremony.
Haitians have been urged to wear either black or white to show their respect for the victims.
The BBC’s Mike Wooldridge in Port-au-Prince says the act of national reflection comes as one of the largest humanitarian operations ever mounted grapples with challenges on many fronts.
He says a heavy downpour on the eve of the anniversary provided a foretaste of the misery that lies ahead for the many people who still have only the flimsiest shelter in impromptu camps, if the pace of getting out more tents and stronger shelter materials is not stepped up before the start of the rainy season.
In the biggest of the camps that sprang up in the capital after the earthquake, people are still living under sheeting strung across wooden poles.
The government says the seasonal rains could be the biggest threat now to the nation’s attempts at recovery.
The European Union has proposed a military mission to step up the provision of shelter before the rains worsen.
This week’s Haitian government figures suggesting 230,000 dead means the quake toll is approaching that of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed 250,000 people.